Mechanical crawl stroke swimming instructor



Feb. 5, 1935. c. w. KABISJUS .ME CHANICAL CRAWL STROKE SWIMMING INSTRUCTOR Original Filed Feb. 12, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR.

A TTORNEYS Feb. 5, 1935. c. w. KABISIUS 1,990,124

MECHANICAL CRAWL S TROKE SWIMMING INSTRUCTOR Original Filed Feb. 12, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 \N v o & a flmm NIY V A o o:

v INVENTOR.

ATTORNEYS Patented Feb. 5, 1935 MECHANICAL GRAWL STROKE SWIMMIN INSTRUCTOR Charles W. Kabisius, Santa Monica, Calif.

Application February 12, 1927, Serial No. 167,813 Renewed. June 25, 1934 32 Claims. (C11 272-11 which a body would normally lie in the: water My invention relates generally to a form of physical exercising apparatus. Inasmuch as swimming in general brings into play practically all of the major muscles of the body and as it is considered to be one of the best known forms of exercise, I have designed my apparatus along certain lines with a view to not only effecting physical exercises, where that is the desideratum, in a manner in which such exercise would be gained by actual swimming, but also, in doing this, to specifically direct, time and coordinate the limb and body movements to produce such movements in the same, manner in which these movements are made by a swimmer when using what is known as the crawl or similar strokes. Theoretically, swimmingis the art of displacing water by the propelled body, and the correctness of the methods employed is reflected in the ease with which the'work is accomplished. Experience has demonstrated that the crawl stroke is the most effective stroke devised, not only for speed swimming but also for distance swimming, including the marathon. Thus, in

r addition to providing a mechanical exerciser, I

have produced an apparatus which also serves as a mechanical instructor for teaching this form of swimming stroke. While this form of swimming stroke, i. e., the crawl may be taught by my form of apparatus, in its preferred specific embodiment, as herein shown and described, other forms or embodiments of my improvement may be devised without departing from the broad principles of my conception.

One of the objects of my invention is to provide mechanism for guiding the swinging movements of the arm members, simultaneously and continuously in one direction, that is, in somewhat semi-circular paths, in two planes lying at an angle to each other.

These guided movements may be with or without coordination with each other and may be with or without coordination with the appropriate leg and body movements. This is accomplished in the present instance by means of guide arms- -right and leftin combination with cam elements, presenting cam surfaces, the latter defining, on a smaller scale, substantially the paths of travel of the arms and hands of the swimmer, during the crawl or similar strokes, the catch or pull stroke being rearwardly in a substantially vertical plane and the recovery or return move ment being in, a substantially horizontal plane or in a plane at an angle inclined to the horizontalplana'depending upon the construction, relative to a substantially horizontal plane in while swimming the crawl stroke.

The leg movements, being an oscillation up and down scissor fashion simultaneously and oppositely in a plane perpendicular to the'body rest, are synchronized and timed with the arm movements by appropriate operative connections.-

The body rest is mounted to rock laterally-on its longitudinal axis and may do so, thus readily lending itself to thenatural swinging arm, body and leg movements employed in the crawl form of swimming stroke. Additionally, in connection with the invention, I have produced what I believe to be present a new and novel arrangement of universally mounted swinging arm members, and cam means whereby the arm members may be swung continuously in one direction and directed in different planes angularly to the 'axisof its center of rotation. As thebam per se and the combination feature may have a number of difierentuses, it is to be understood'thatl do not wish to limit myself to the specific use as herein shown and described.

Further objects of the invention willappe'ar hereinafter.

The invention consists in the novel parts and combination of parts to be described hereinafter,

all of which contribute to produce an efficient mechanical swimming instructor.

A preferred embodiment of the invention is described in the following specification,

while 'the broad scope of the invention is'pointed' out in the appended claims. a

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective of a mechanical swimming instructor embodying my invention, the

broken away. 3

legs of the frame being Figure 2 is a perspective illustrating one en of the frame of the device, having a modified form, certain parts being broken away.

Figure 3 is a vertical cross-section through v apparatus, taken about on the line 3-3 of Figure 8.

the

Figure 4 is a perspective of a bracket and cam, which constitutes a detail of the apparatus.

Figure 5 is a vertical section taken about on the line 5-5 of Figure 3, broken away, and particularly illustrating simple means which Imay employ for subjecting the movements swimmer to a resistance.

Figure 6 is a view similar the parts broken ploy for connecting the arm levers.

of the to Figure 3, but with away, and illustrating a modified construction of the means which I may em- Figure '7 is a side elevation of the upper portion of the apparatus removed from the supporting frame.

Figure 8 is a bottom plane of the parts of the apparatus illustrated in Figure 7.

The apparatus described herein is, I believe, the first apparatus which is capable of instructing a person to use the crawl stroke in swimming.

In practicing the invention, I prefer to provide a body rest on which the body of the swimmer lies in a substantially horizontal position. This body rest is preferably supported so that it can rock, or oscillate to a slight extent, on a longi tudinal axis. Associated with the body rest I provide arm levers and leg levers on which the arms and legs are held. Means is provided associated with each arm lever for guiding its movement so that the swimmer must execute the desired stroke. It is not essential that the two arm levers be connected together, but the parts of the mechanism are preferably connected together so that the movements of the arms will be properly synchronized with the movement of the legs.

In order to accomplish this, I provide a body rest 1 which may be in the form of an elongated board or platen which is supported upon a suitable frame. This frame preferably includes two horizontal cross-bars 2 upon which the body rest 1 is mounted to rock on a longitudinal axis. In the present instance I provide the under side of the rocking board 1 with brackets 3 which are connected by pivot pins 4, to the middle portions of the bars 2. The bars may be supported on four stanchions or legs 5.

It is not essential to provide for this rocking movement of the body rest, but I prefer to provide for it and also provide for yieldingly limiting the amount of rocking movement. For this purpose I provide resilient bumpers or buffers 6 which may be in the form of coil springs mounted in sockets 7, respectively at the ends of the bars 2. These coil springs are located near the edges of the rocking board, and as the edge descends the spring on that side will be compressed, and the compressing of the spring will gradually retard the rocking movement and finally assist in reversing it. If it is desired to construct the body rest so that it has no rocking movement, then it will be necessary to construct the guide cam lobes now extending in a substantially horizontal plane so that they will extend in a plane inclined upwardly from a horizontal plane, in order to provide the proper elevation for the forwardly moving arm levers. At each side of the rocking board toward the head end of the same, I provide two arm guiding devices 8. These devices are duplicates of each other in construction, but when in use extend in opposite directions from each other, assuming that the apparatus is to be employed to teach the crawl stroke. Each of these arm devices comprises an arm bracket 9 and a bearing 9a. The arm brackets 9 may be attached to the frame, but they are preferably attached to the under side of the body rest, and each of these bearings carries an arm shaft 10 preferably disposed in an inclined position (see Figure 3) The arm shaft 10 in the bearing 90. is preferably inclined at an angle of 45 degrees to the vertical and horizontal extensions of the cam. I also provide an arm lever 11 associated with each bearing, and this arm lever has a flexible connection, for example, a pivot or hinge joint 12 which connects it to its corresponding arm shaft. The rotation of the shaft 10 on its axis, and the rotation about the axis of the pivot pin 12, enables this joint to constitute a universal joint, that is to say, permits movements of the arm lever 11 in any direction. Associated with each arm lever, and preferably constructed as part of, or supported on, the bracket 9, I provide a cam 13.

This cam is in the form of a plate, supported by a bracket and having two somewhat semicircular portions extending in different planes angularly to each other, and which may have a centrally located bearing in the angle between the lobes for supporting a rotatable shaft, the said lobes being connectedto each other by a suitable curved portion, thus providing a continuous surface. ure 4, I provide plate 8, bracket 9, bearing 9a, lobe 15 extending in a substantially vertical plane and connected to lobe 14 by a suitable curved portion 130. and lobe 14 extending in a substantially horizontal plane. These lobes may be extended at various angles to each other. The lobe 14 preferably inclines upwardly at a slight angle to the horizontal. These lobes may make any desired angle with each other.

The inner portion of the arm 11 is preferably provided with guide rollers 16, which are oppositely disposed, and which engage opposite faces of the cam at its edge. The arm lever 11 is preferably provided with a. hinge joint 17 corresponding to the elbow joint of the swimmer, and adjacent this joint I provide a coil spring 18 which is not in tension as viewed in Figure 8, and which is connected with hooks on the arm sections 11a and 11b, so that this spring tends to keep the arm sections 11a and 11b in axial alignment with each other. The end of the outer section 11b of the arm is provided with a hand-plate or pad 19, Which may be provided with an adjustable strap 20, for securing the swimmers hand to the pad. If desired, this pad may be connected to the outer section 11?) of the arm by a stem 21 which rotates and slides freely inand out.

The swimmers arms are guided by the arm levers 11 engaging the surfaces of the cams, which present on a smaller scale substantially the path of travel of the swimmers arms while executing the crawl or similar strokes. The catch or pull stroke of the arm lever, being rearwardly under the body rest in one plane, as guided by lobe 15 and as viewed at the left side of Figure 3, then along the curved portion 13a for the return or recovery movement, forwardly in another plane as guided by lobe 14 at the right side of Figure 3. In the present instance, the arm levers 11 are connected with each other by means of the crossshaft 22 so that any force applied to either arm lever imparts a rotary movement to the crossshaft. Specifically, therefore. when the swimmer applies force on the arm lever 11 describing the catch or pull stroke in the rearward movement, as shown on the left side of Figure 3, said force imparts a rotary motion to the cross-shaft 22,

which movement controls the recovery or return forwardly movement of the other arm lever 11 in another plane as viewed on the right side of Figure 3, and also actuates the scissor fashion movements of the leg levers. The student thus closely simulates the crawl movements and acquires the art of relaxing the forwardly moving arm, as the other arm propels the body. The arm levers 11, by means of the rollers 16 engaging the continuous cam surface, are thus caused to pass rearwardly guided along lobe 15 and over the curved portion 13a onto the lobe 14, thereby traversing a predetermined path extending in In the present instance, as viewed in Figmovements of the arm levers.

different planes. If it is desired to operate the apparatus by means of a motor, rather than by muscular exertion, suitable operative connectionsmay'be made to any appropriate shaft.-

While it is not essential to connect the arm levers inyorder'to synchronize these movements, I prefer to do, so, and for this purpose I connect the arm shaft 10 by a cross-shaft 22 whichis rotatably supported on the under side of the body rest 1. As illustrated in Figure 3this shaft is provided at its ends with universal joints 23, which connect it to the inclined arm shafts, respectively.

In order to guide the legs of the swimmer, I provide two leg levers 24, which are preferably connected to the foot end of the rocking board by'suitable pivot or hinge joints 25. I provide mechanism connecting these leg levers with the shaft 22 so that these levers will be swung up and down and synchronized in respect to the Any suitable means may be provided for this purpose, but in the present instance I provide a counter-shaft 26 (see. Figure 8) which extends rearwardly under the central axis of the rocking bar, and this counter-shaft is driven; by bevel gears 27 from the cross-shaft 22. The driving mechanism also includes a crank shaft 28, having cranks 29 which may be of the disc type and connected by connecting rods 30 with brackets 31, which are attached to the leg-levers 24, preferably near their hinges 25. The connection between the connecting rods 30 and the brackets 31 is preferably an adjustable connection, and for this purpose each bracket may be provided with a slot 32 the rear end of each connecting rod 30 being provided with a bolt and wing-nut 33 for adjustably attaching the same in the slot. The wingnut and its bolt are of a common construction. The bolt fixes itself in the slot but permits free pivotal movement of the connecting rod 30 on the axis of the bolt.

The connection between the shaft 22 and the crank-shaft 28 preferably includes a variable connection, so that the numberof movements of the leg levers in each cycle of movement of the arm levers can be altered asdesired.

Referring to Figure 8, this variable connection 34 includes a driving disc 35 carried by the rear end of the shaft 26 and having driving gears 36 on its'face which are of different diameters and concentric with the axis of rotation of the disc. One of these gears engages the teeth of a pinion 37 mounted on the shaft with a spline 38. The pinion 3'7 constitutes the end of a shifting collar 39 with which it is associated, and a shifting lever 40 enables the collar and pinion to be shifted longitudinally on the shaft to bring the pinion into alinement with any one. of the gears 36 and if desired to withhold alignment thereof. With this arrangement, the leg-levers will have four, six or eight movements in each cycle of movement of the arm levers depending upon which gear in mesh with the pinion or connection between the arm and leg levers may be withheld.

If desired, I may provide for subjecting the movements of the swimmer to a certain amount of resistance. For this purpose I may provide the shaft 22 with a brake-device. This brake device is preferably adjustable sothat the brake resistance may present instance it consists of a brake-wheel or drum 41, rigidly attached to the shaft 22; a brake lever 42 provided at 43 is held against the face of this brake drum by means of a coil spring 44 attached to a chain 45. Any one of the links of the be regulated as desired. In the chain 45 maybe attached over the end of ahook 46 (see Figure By adjusting the tension of this spring with the. chain, the brake resistance may be regulated as. desired. 1

Instead of providing the universal connections 23 betweenthe arm shafts 1'0 and the cross shaft 22, I may provide a connection which'is illustrated in Figure 6." In this view,'47 indicates the arm shaft, and thisshaft is connected by bevel gears 48 and 49'with the cross-shaft 50. The bevel gear arrangement is duplicated at both sides of the rocking bar,.so that the direction of rotation of both shafts 47 is the same; mother words, the.

bevel gear 48 on the other side of the rocking bar engages the upper edge of its correspondin'gbevel gear 49.

The outerends of the leg levers 24 are preferably providedwith adjustable ankle straps 51, constructed like the straps 20 on the hand pads. If desired, the straps 20 could be omitted in which case the swimmer would simply grasp the handpad 19 in his hand.

' If desired, theframe of the machine may consist of two heads,'constructed like the head 52 shown in Figure 2, the two heads being connected by a tie rod 53 placed within a spacer sleeve 54. This form of the frame practically adapts it for mounting upon castings 55, which maybe used to facilitate its being moved from place to place.

It is understood that the embodiment of the invention described herein is only one of the many embodiments this invention may take, and I donot wish to be limited in the practice of the invention, nor inthe claims, to the particular embodiment set forth.

The ratio of four, S1X,'OI" eightreferred to above at the disc 35 corresponds to the leg movements employed by various representative swimmers. Any desired ratio of drive may be employed.-

What I claim is: 1. In a mechanical swimming instructor, the

combination of a body rest, an arm lever having a pivotal connection with the body rest and having a joint at an intermediate point on its length, a spring associated with the joint and exerting its force to yielding'ly maintain the jointed sections of the arm lever in axial alignment with each other, and means for guiding the arm lever in a predetermined path to cause the swimmers arm to execute a swimming stroke.

2. In a 'mecha'nical swimming instructor, the combination of a rest for the swimmers body, an arm lever movably mounted on the rest, and guiding means associated with the arm lever having an extension lying in one plane for engaging the arm lever to guide the same rearwardly in one plane, said guiding means having another extension disposed in a plane forming an angle with the plane of the first-named extension and engaging the arm lever to guide'the same forwardly in another plane.

3. In a mechanical swimming instructor, the combination, of a lever corresponding to a limb of ones body, and a cam guide for guiding the same having two lobes disposed in different planes, said lobes being connected by a curved portion enabling the lever to move along the cam from one lobe to the other in a continuous path.

4. In a mechanical swimming instructor, the combination of a guide camhaving a continuous cam surface with a lobe extending in .one plane and a lobe extending in another plane, an arm shaft mounted for rotation with its axis lying in the angle between said planes, and an arm lever having a pivotal connection with the arm shaft and engaging the cam.

5. In a mechanical swimming instructor, an arm lever having an inner section with a joint connection at its inner end and having an outer section pivotally connected to the inner section, anda hand pad carried at the outer end of the outer section, said outer section mounted so that it may rotate and slide in and out on the inner section.

6. In a mechanical swimming instructor, the combination of a rest for a swimmers body, arm levers at the sides of said rests, means for guiding each arm lever to swing through a continuous path in which they move forwardly in one plane and rearwardly in a plane at an angle to the first named plane, and means for connecting the arm levers so that they are maintained in diametrically opposed portions of their paths.

7. In a mechanical swimming instructor, the combination of a rest for a swimmers body, of arm shafts at the sides of the rest and extending outwardly and downwardly, arm levers pivoted to said shafts at one end, means for engaging said arm levers to cause the same to swing in a continuous path during rotation of said arm shafts, said members including parts which guide the arm levers in a plane while they are moving forwardly, and parts which guide the arm levers in a plane at an angle to the first named plane as they move rearwardly, and means connecting the arm levers together to cause the same to be maintained in diametrically opposed parts of their paths.

8. In a mechanical swimming instructor, the combination of a rest for a swimmers body, arm levers at the sides of said rests, each arm lever being pivoted to a shaft, a continuous cam surface for each arm lever through which said shaft axially extends, said continuous cams being provided with cam portions operative to guide the arm levers in one plane as they move forwardly and cam portions for guiding the arm levers in a plane at an angle to the first named plane as they move rearwardly, and means for connecting the arm levers so that they are maintained in diametrically opposed portions of their paths.

9. In an apparatus of the class described, a rest for a swimmers body, leg levers connected at the rear of the rest to simultaneously and oppositely oscillate in a plane perpendicular to the rest, arm levers supported at the sides of the rest, means for guiding the arm levers to swing in continuous paths in planes extending angularly to each other, means connecting the arm levers to operate the same simultaneously and oppositely, and means connecting the arm levers with the leg levers so that the cycles of movement of the leg levers are at a determined ratio with respect to the cycles of movement of the arm levers.

10. In an apparatus of the class described, a rest for a swimmers body, leg levers connected at the rear of the rest to simultaneously and oppositely oscillate in a plane perpendicular to the rest, arm levers supported at the sides of said rest, means for guiding the arm levers to swing in a continuous path, including members for guiding the arm levers in their forward motion in one plane, and members for guiding the arm levers in their rearward motion in a. plane at an angle to the first named plane, means for connecting the arm levers to operate the same simultaneously and oppositely, and means connecting the arm levers with the leg levers so that the cycles of the leg levers are at a'determined and greater ratio than the cycles of the arm levers.

11. In an apparatus of the class described, the combination of a rest for a swimmers body, an arm lever at the side of said rest, means guiding the arm lever to swing through a continuous path, including a guiding part for guiding the arm lever in one plane while moving forwardly and a guiding part for guiding the arm lever in a plane at an angle to the first named plane While moving rearwardly, and a hand supporting member swiveled to said arm lever and having an extensible connection therewith.

12. In a mechanical swimming instructor, the combination of a rest for the swimmers body, arm levers at the sides of the rest, means for guiding the arm levers to move in a continuous path rearwardly in one plane and forwardly in a plane at an angle to the first named plane, and means for supporting the rest to rock on its longitudinal axis.

13. In a mechanical swimming instructor, the combination of a rest for the swimmers body, arm levers at the sides of the rest, means for guiding the arm levers to move in a continuous path rearwardly in one plane and forwardly in a plane at an angle to the first named plane, leg levers attached to the rest, and means for oscillating the leg levers simultaneously and oppositely in a plane perpendicular to the rest.

14. In a mechanical swimming instructor, the combination of a rest for the swimmers body, means for supporting the rest to rock on its longitudinal axis, arm levers at the sides of the rest, means for guiding the arm levers to move in a continuous path rearwardly in one plane and forwardly in a plane at an angle to the first named plane, leg levers attached to the rest, means for oscillating the leg levers simultaneously and oppositely in a plane perpendicular to the rest.

15. A cam having a continuous surface with an extension lying in one plane'and another extension lying in another plane making an angle with the first-named plane.

16. A cam consisting of a plate having a continuous cam edge, said plate having an extension lying in one plane and another extension lying in another plane forming an angle with the firstnamed plane.

17. A cam consisting of a plate with a continuous cam surface, having two substantially semicircular extensions'extending in planes angularly to each other, said extensions being connected to each other by a curved portion.

18. In a mechanical swimming instructor, the combination of a rest for the swimmers body, arm shafts extending outwardly and downwardly relative to the plane of the rest, and arm levers pivotally connected to the arm shafts.

19. In a mechanical swimming instructor, the combination of a rest for the swimmers body, arm shafts extending outwardly and downwardly relative to the plane of the rest, arm levers pivotally connected to the arm shafts, and means for connecting the arm shafts.

20. In a mechanical swimming instructor, the combination of a cam having a continuous guide path with portions extending in planes angularly to each other, and a lever guided by the cam.

21. In a mechanical swimming instructor, the combination of a cam having a continuous guide path with portions extending in planes angularly to each other, and a lever engaging the cam and guided thereby.

22. In a mechanical swimming instructor, the combination of a cam having a continuous guide path with portions extending in planes angularly to each other, a shaft axially extending between said planes, and a lever having a pivotal connection with the shaft and engaging the cam.

23. In a mechanical swimming instructor, the combination of a lever, means for supporting the same for universal movement about a center, a cam having a continuous cam surface surrounding the center, said cam having portions extending in planes angularly to each other, and means in connection with the lever engaging the cam surface whereby the lever is guided to swing in different planes.

24. In a mechanical swimming instructor, the combination of a rest for the swimmers body, means for supporting the rest to rock on its 1ongitudinal axis, arm levers at the sides of the rest, means for guiding the arm levers to swing in a continuous path in planes extending angularly to each other, and means for connecting the arm levers to synchronize their movements.

25. In a mechanical swimming instructor, the combination of a rest for the swimmers body, and arm levers supported at the sides of the rest for universal movement about a center.

26. In a mechanical swimming instructor, the combination of a rest for the swimmers body, arm levers supported at the sides of the rest for universal movement about a center, and means for connecting the arm levers.

27. In a mechanical swimming instructor, the combination of a rest for the swimmers body, and guide means for guiding the arm levers to swing in a continuous path in planes extending angularly to each other.

28. In a mechanical swimming instructor, the combination of a rest for the swimmers body, arm levers supported at the sides of the rest for universal movement about a center, and means for guiding the arm levers to swing in a continuous path in planes extending angularly to each other.

29. In a mechanical swimming instructor, the combination of a rest for the swimmers body, arm levers at the sides of the rest, and an extensible and rotatable hand supporting member carried by each arm lever.

30. In a mechanical swimming instructor, the combination of a rest for the swimmers body, arm levers at the sides of the rest, and means for exerting a resistance to the movements of said parts whereby the resistance is applied during the working stroke of either arm lever.

31. In a mechanical swimming instructor, the combination of a rest for the swimmers body, arm levers at the sides of the rest, means for guiding the arm levers to swing in a continuous path in planes angularly to each other, means for connecting the arm levers to operate simultaneously and oppositely, leg levers pivotally supported at the rear of the rest operating to oscillate simultaneously and oppositely in a plane perpendicular to the rest, means for connecting the arm levers and the leg levers including means for withholding connection between the arm levers and the leg levers.

32. In a mechanical swimming instructor, the combination of a rest for the swimmers body, arm levers at the sides of the rest, means for guiding the arm levers to swing in a continuous path in planes angularly to each other, means for connecting the arm levers to operate simultaneously and oppositely, leg levers pivotally supported at the rear of the rest operating to oscillate simultaneously and oppositely in a plane perpendicular to the rest, and a variable connection between the arm levers and the leg levers for regulating the ratio of the cycles of movements of the leg levers relative to the cycles of movements of the arm levers.

CHARLES W. KABISIUS. 

